Epidote with Albite and Augite* (*likely Diopside) (ex Kay Robertson Collection)

Item Description

It should be noted that this specimen is labeled as coming from the Seekarscharte (mountain) in the Obersulzbachtal. The piece is almost certainly from the Seekar (Seebachkar) Lake locality in the Obersulzbachtal (which now is mentioned as being in Neukirchen am Grossvenediger on mindat.org). With that said, this specimen is a classic Austrian Alpine Epidote featuring dozens of thin, gemmy, olive oil green colored crystals of Epidote associated with dark greenish-black crystals of prismatic Augite along with bladed (polysynthetic twinned?) crystals of white Albite and what appears to be a few rhombic crystals of grey Calcite on the edge of the host rock amphibolite matrix. The piece is best viewed under high magnification, and we photographed it with a Canon MP-E 65 mm macro lens to better illustrate the quality. On a final note, it was mentioned that the "Augites" from this locality are likely to be Fe-rich (Ferroan) Diopside, which is also a member of the Pyroxene Group. According to the post on mindat.org, "The growing conditions for augite sensu stricto is not given in such mineralisations of alpine clefts." Ex Kay Robertson Collection (#2665). Kay was a prominent California collector, who specialized in European classics. She nearly lived 100 years from April 1920 - March 2020. See the article in the March-April, 2007 Mineralogical Record ( https://www.mineralogicalrecord.com/pdfs/Kay%20Robertson%20Collection.pdf ), and the 50+ page article in the German Magazine "Mineralien Welt" November-December 2017.